With a loss all but eliminating them from the AFC North race Sunday, the A.J. Green-less Bengals had plenty of effort but continued to scour the desert for points and couldn’t find enough in a 19-14 loss at M&T Bank Stadium.
The loss leaves the stunned Bengals at 3-7-1 after their fifth straight road loss and pushed the 6-5 Ravens back into a first-place tie with the Steelers. With five games left and Green apparently out a few more weeks, the Bengals appeared to have run out of answers when their failed fourth red zone foray with a minute left ended at the Ravens 16.
The defense again played well enough to win when they held up in their end of the red zone before falling to four Justin Tucker field goals and an opening-drive TD.
Trailing 19-12 with about four minutes left, Bengals rookie punt returner Alex Erickson made a 15-yard mistake when he didn’t catch a punt and it rolled to the Bengals 19.
But quarterback Andy Dalton drove them with the help of three runs for 28 yards by running back Rex Burkhead and completed a huge third-and-two to rookie wide receiver Tyler Boyd for nine yards and an even huger fourth-and-three to tight end Tyler Eifert working on safety Matt Elam for 13 yards to the Ravens 16.
But then Dalton (a gutty 26 of 48 for 283 yards, a TD and no picks) lost the ball for the second time in the red zone Sunday. Elvis Dumervil came around right tackle Eric Winston with 1:05 left to strip the ball away when Dalton stepped up in the pocket and it was recovered by Baltimore to end a weird drive that featured four deflections of Dalton’s last eight passes.
The Bengal’s red-zone woes from earlier in the season re-surfaced all day. When they got inside the 20 midway through the fourth quarter, left tackle Andrew Whitworth false started and Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs beat right tackle Cedric Ogbuehi for one of three strip sacks of Dalton and Ogbuehi recovered. On third down rookie cornerback Tavon Young was all over wide receiver Brandon LaFell for a pass defensed and they had to take Mike Nugent’s 36-yard field goal to cut it to 19-12 with six minutes left.
With no running game (64 yards on 20 carries), Green, or third-down running back Giovani Bernard, Dalton often had nowhere to throw. He did lead a scrambling 94-yard drive that cut the Ravens’ lead to 16-9 when he hit seven of nine passes for 94 yards.
After not getting a completion to Eifert on two targets in the first half, Dalton hit him down the middle for his second ball of at least 20 yards in the second half, this one for 25 yards.
Then staring at third-and-seven and the blitz coming, Dalton threw a quick one over the middle and Boyd picked up some yards after catch on a 22-yarder that put the ball on the Baltimore 10 and on third and three against a three-man rush, Dalton scrambled out of the pocket to keep the play alive before finding Eifert along the back line beating Mosley.
When Nugent missed his third extra point in the last two games (he went wide right after hitting the right upright twice last week), it was 19-9 with 4:16 left in the third quarter.
Tucker’s three field goals beyond 50 yards gave the Ravens a 16-3 half-time lead.The Bengals, who haven’t scored a touchdown in their last four quarters, squandered two trips into the red zone with only three points. When the Bengals had a shot to tie the game at 10 early in the second half, an ill-timed shot-gun snap on third down fumbled the ball to the Ravens and put them in field position hell.
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